Collection

Europa Jubilans

Jozef Mehoffer

Basic information

ID: Ж-2277
Author: Jozef Mehoffer
Name: Europa Jubilans
Date of creation: 1905
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 92 x 137

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture symbolic art
Provenance: Collection of Lviv City Gallery
Exposition: Lozinski Palace

Information about author

Author: Jozef Mehoffer
Artist's lifetime: 1869–1946
Biography: Jozef Mehoffer had a universal artistic gift. A master of an easel and monumental painting, scenographer, graphic artist, poster designer, stained glass and textile designer, he was one of the leaders of Polish Art Nouveau. This trend came to be known as "Young Poland" (Młoda Polska). Mehoffer studied at the Faculty of Law at the Jagiellonian University, and from 1887–1894 studied at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, under the tutelage of Izidor Jablonski, Jozef Ujejski, Władysław Łuszczkiewicz and Jan Matejko. From 1889 to 1890, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and from 1891 to 1896 he also studied in Paris: first at the Académie Julian and at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs, Académie Colarossi with Joseph Blanc and Jacques Courtois, and from 1892 at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Leon Bonnat. Since 1905, he was a professor at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts and later rector of this institution. Jozef Mehoffer was married to Jadwiga Janakowska and had a son called Zbigniew. The artist lived mainly in Krakow, but travelled widely, particularly to Italy and Switzerland. He won international acclaim for his stained glass windows made between 1895 and 1936 in the Gothic collegiate church of St Nicholas in Fribourg, Switzerland. He died of tuberculosis on 8 July 1946 in Wadowice and was buried in Krakow's Rakowicki Cemetery. A museum dedicated to the artist was established at Józef Megoffer's house at 26 Krupnicza Street in Kraków.

Object description

An image of a smiling woman on a lushly decorated background with a shelf-stand containing stylised three sculptures of the Buddha in the lotus pose and dolls in oriental clothes (possibly "netsuke"). A woman is shown with her hair high wearing the clothes of a maid (red flowers are attached to a white apron on her chest). She is seated on a sofa with her right hand resting on her right arm and her left hand at her waist; the woman's legs are stretched out to the right. On the sofa to the right (left side at work) is a stylised metal dragon/grass snake/snake and to the left of the sofa (right side of work) is a mannequin in oriental warrior armour, at his feet, is a male cylinder hat with gloves.

Inscriptions

In the bottom left is the author's signature: «Józef Mehoffer 1905».

Europa Jubilans

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